Shadow First Blood
by grishka
Summary: Shadow the hedgehog, a drifter just passing through their town. They know he was innocent, but they didn't give a damn. Shadow the hedgehog, a Mobian driven beyond limits, he was hunted and forced to fight back. And now he's fighting for his life.
1. Chapter 1: It's a long road

Chapter 1: It's a long road

On a highway that separates on one side a rocky hill and on the other a large wood inhabited by critters and deers and some creatures that aren't affected by the radiation of GENE bombs, a black hedgehog with red lines running on his back and sides carrying a leather luggage walking to the nearby city of Westopolis. His name is Shadow the hedgehog. He came to the outskirt of town when a police cruiser came up in front of him. The driver was an pin sized Overlander with only 6 hairs left on his head. "Where are going? North or South?" he asked the hedgehog, Shadow replied to him with a mumbling like voice, "North". "Hop in i'll make sure you'll head to the right direction." And so the hedgehog embarked on the police cruiser and let the officer take him wherever the officer like to. But little does Shadow knew that this is officer Snively Robotnik, famous for his ego and a control freak who will do whatever it takes to get his way. "Is there any place i can eat in here?" Shadow asked, Snively gave Shadow an answer that aimed to drive the hedgehog out of town. "There's a diner about 30 miles out of this town. Eating around here while on my time is against the law of me." When they've reach the far side of the city, Snively let Shadow continues walking to the diner that he mentioned earlier. "Hope that this trip help you." Then Snively turn around and drive back to his police station. But then the rain was coming in and Shadow was too hungry to walk or dash to the diner, let alone his super speed. And so risking the law violation, Shadow decided to walk back into the city to seek shelters from the weather.

Snively suddenly looked at his car's mirror and saw Shadow was walking back into the city, enraged by the return of the hedgehog, Snively turned the car around and stop Shadow, "What do ya think ya doing huh? Hands on the car!" But Shadow still standing around like a statue, this provoked Snively to use extreme measures on Shadow, "I said HANDS ON THE CAR!" only with that yell, Shadow placed his gloved hands on the police car, Snively then searched Shadow for anything that he might find suspicious. "What's this?" Snively uncovered a knife hidden in Shadow's jacket, this discovery led Snively to arrest the hedgehog without anything that could be call a crime. Some minutes later, Snively brought Shadow into his police station for a long stay, the desk worker at the entrance of the station wrote down the so called "Crimes" that Shadow commited, "Suspect is arrested for resisting arrest and having a concealed weapon. He said he was using it for hunting." Snively said to the desk worker. After doing the paper work, Snively brought Shadow down to the basment where the cells are located. This is where Shadow met Snively assistance, another control freak named Art Gulch. Gulch was older than Snively in many ways, he had grey hairs, moustache, a face with wrinkles all over. "So what do we got this time? Another drifter?" Gulch asked Snively. "Yes, and this time, he's a hedgehog." Gulch stand up from his desk just to see the new comer and prisoner, he was amazed to see a small multicolored hedgehog, "You got a name son?" Gulch asked Shadow.

But the same thing that happened to Snively goes to him, Shadow doesn't answer the man. The fat assistance immediately got an impression that Shadow was playing with his mine, "Starting to dislike you, alot." Gulch holds a cane on Shadow's chin, he happens to found a dogtag hanging on the hedgehog's neck. Gulch took a closer look into the words written on it, "Hedgehog, Shadow. That might come in handy." Gulch then typed down the name of the hedgehog whilst Snively went upstair to continues his patrol. The police officers were having so much problems from a tiny little hedgehog, when they took his gloves off to take his finger prints, Shadow resisted them hands down. It took more than three person just get a finger print. Then they subjected him to a high power water hoist, calling it "Bath time." Finally, their torments forced Shadow to the very breaking point of his endurance, the tried to shave him while his chin was still dried and without the use of soap. From Shadow's point of view it was like how he was tortured by one of Dr Eggman's robot crossing his chest with knife. He screams loudly and start kicking the cops back, to Gulch's surprise, the hedgehog gave him a throw into the cell that they used to imprison him, another cop came up on the entrance into the cell block was kicked back by Shadow hanging on the bar. THen Shadow ran upstair to lighting speed, an officer opens the door to basement in curious to know what happened down there was immediately knock out cold by Shadow. The evidences holder was examining the survial knife of Shadow was suddenly kick in the leg by the hedgehog, Shadow took his knife back and ran out to the streets of Westopolis.

He saw a motocycle was passing by, and so Shadow jumped on a car and kick the owner of the motorcycle off, he then commandeer the vehicle and make a quick dash out of town into the forest. Snively saw what just happened with his own two eyes, and decided to run after Shadow, the chase lasted through the highway, off to the rocky side of the forest and finally ended with Snively accidently overturned his cruiser and leaving Shadow running with his own two legs up to the hill.


	2. Chapter 2: First Blood

Chapter 2: First Blood

After a humiliating car chase that resulted in a crash for the police cruiser, sheriff Snively called for reinforcements and start a hunt for Shadow the hedgehog. The hedgehog ran further to the cliffside of the hill, in front of him there was no way out but a waterfall stopping his track. "Damn it!" But Shadow's cursing moment was cut short when the posse with dogs were coming closer and a police helicopter was flying to him, Gulch was on that chopper with a sniper rifle, Shadow decided to take the risk shimmy himself on the cliffside, Gulch saw the hedgehog was trying to escape the risky way. He loaded his sniper rifle and aimed at the hedgehog, Gulch fired shots afte shots at Shadow but none of them hit their intended target. Frustrated by the police's harassment, Shadow decided to jump for it down to the trees below. Thinking that Shadow is still alive, Gulch ordered the pilot to lowered their altitude down to see things for sure, Gulch sighted Shadow as expected, he fires at the hedgehog but to no aval. Angered by the police's intention to kill him, Shadow threw a rock on the helicopter's windscreen, causing Gulch to loose balance fell down into the ravine below.

Shadow ran down to the cliff, hoping that Gulch would survived the fall, but all the hedgehog found was a bloody battered dead body. Shadow wish that he had left the town instead of coming back to it, but there was no time to mourn the dead of Deputy Sheriff Gulch, because sheriff Snively was coming in. Shadow took the radio on Gulch's belt and ran off, once Snivley saw the dead body of Gulch, he though that Shadow was the one to blame. "I don't get it. How did he fell off?" One of his officer quoted, but before Snivley could jumped into conclusion, Shadow walked out to the posse with his hands up. "This man is dead. But it's not my fault! I don't want anymore hurts!" Shadow cried out to cops, "Hold it right there, keep your hands up we're coming down to get you!" Snivley shouted out to the hedgehog. But for Shadow, it wasn't fair, he didn't meant to kill a police officer, but he was still charge for crimes that he didn't commit. The cops shoot at the hedgehog, forcing him to dash away with bullet holes on his shoulder. "Cut it out now!" Snivley ordered his men to stop firing, some minutes later they got down the cliff to consolidate their plans for the hedgehog. "Sheriff to base, sheriff to base, come in over." Snivley called his other comrades on the radio, "Sheriff you picked one heck of a hedgehog to mess with. This guy's name is Shadow the hedgehog, a veteran of the Eggwar, won congressional Medal of Valor, Medal of Honor, this guy's a war hero, also a former member of GUN's Special Forces." The officer outside the mountain said to Snivley. Now the egotistical sheriff is totally terrified. He picked a warrior hedgehog whose fighting capability is far beyond the sheriff's knowledge, but Snivley was fixed with revenge.

"Those GUN Spec Ops are real badass, maybe we should let the state police handle this." The youngest policeman suggested, in the argument, Snivley won the upper hand when he reel the face of the police recruit to see the body of Gulch. "Listen here and listen boy! This man's here is your friend and mine, without him your mama would be still wiping your nose. And now he's dead because of that psycho hedgehog out there! Now i'm going to catch him with or without you!" The posse decided to follow the traces of Shadow, but the further they went, they soon realized that the hunted is nearer than they thought. But they weren't prepared. They released the hounds to catch him, the dogs jumped on Shadow but the hedgehog overcome the canines with ease, ending his confrontation with the mutts with the sound of a "Yip". The soon terrified posse, open fires on the hedgehog's last known location, but all their bullets hit nothing but trees and dirts. The posse was split up to hunt down the hedgehog in wide open terrain, but as they split up, each member of the posse fell into a booby trap, set up by Shadow, fortunately, the traps were ment to decapacitated them instead of killing totally. Sheriff Snivley was left alone, surrounded by echoes of screams and pains from his comrades, from the bushes Shadow jumped out, wearing a red bandana, his face is painted with camouflage and he wore leaves on his back to concealed himself. He holds his knife on Snivley's neck, threatening Snivley of the consequences of his actions. "I could kill you. I could kill them all. In town you're the law, out here there's only me. Don't push it or i'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go! Let it go!" The black hedgehog left the sheriff alone, to mourn and succumb to the shock that he had endured thanks to the hedgehog's guerilla warfare tactics.


	3. Chapter 3: The warrior hedgehog

Chapter 3: The warrior hedgehog

Some hours after the Snivley's disastrous hunt for Shadow the hedgehog on the mountain, the area around the mountain is like a military compound, surrounded an locked down. The medics, the journalists, even state polices shows up to help hunt down the hedgehog. While the doctors were tending to Snivley's wounds in his tent, a military grade helicopter laned on the helipad of the camp, on board is the commander of GUN, Commander Towers. The elderly military figure came to Snivley with grave concerns about the sheriff's actions toward Shadow, "Who the hell are you?" Snivley asked, "Towers. Commander Abrams Towers. I come here for my hedgehog." Snivley shook himself when he heard Towers gave a quick mention about Shadow. "Your...h...hedgehog?" Snivley asked Towers in confusion, "Yes my hedgehog. I recruit him, i trained him and commanded him in Overland, New Mobotropolis, Station Square,... all the warzones that could have make you commit suicide under extreme stress. I'd say that make him my."

But Snivley doesn't care or give a damn about Towers's words, Snivley's ego, as ever, makes him talk about a matter of urgency outside of is understanding. "I don't give a damn why would the president of the United Federation, sent a full brunt military officer like you to a police work. Shadow is a civiliant hedgehog now, so he's mine to take in." Yes, Snivley's ego and lust for payback has sent another fatal blow to his dilenma, he thought that Towers was here to rescue Shadow from his hands, but in fact, it's the other way around. "I think you don't understand, i'm not here to rescue Shadow from you. I'm here to rescue you from him. God may have mercy on you but he has no mercy for anyone. You're dealing with an expert of guns, knives, anything that he can laid his hands on. A hedgehog that was trained to endure pain, to live off the land, to eat things that would have made your stomach pukes on. Back in the Eggwar, his job was to raise hell on Eggman's bases, to decommision his robots permanently, and he was the best at his job."

And while Snivley and Towers were arguing at the camp, Shadow was hunting for food with a makeshift spear, he cling himself to a tree, stalking a boar below, when the swine itself was in standing still, Shadow jumps down and stab it with the spear. The hedgehog carry the carcass back to his hideout, at an old abandonned mine. In there, he made himself a meal from the meat of the warthog. He stares into the camp fire that he made, in it, he saw visions of a mission from the past. There he was deep in the jungle, with no help nor contacts to the outside world, he crept from bushes to bushes, his body covered with mud to hide from Eggman's robots's thermal visions. Suddenly, an incredible heat was felt by Shadow, the area around him was set on fire by Eggman to flush him out. He ran as fast as he can to avoid the blaze, but while he was running, animals and plans around him succumb to the flame and died. And he couldn't do anything to save them all.

Meanwhile, back at the camp of the police and the United Federation's national guards, commander Towers stated to Snivley an important thing to do at the moment, "Let him go, for now. Until the situation calm down, we'll go find him. Provide a gap between you and him to cool your nerves." but Snivley's recklesness once again hog into the way, "Oh come on, there's only one hedgehog not a team!", the elderly military commander remarked at Snivley's opinion that the sheriff was asking for a war that he can't win. "So you're telling me that 200 plus of my men against one of your hedgehog is a no win situation for us?" Tower spoken clear to Snivley about the consequences of the situation should Snivley attack Shadow again. "Against him there can only one thing that's clear. A good supply of body bags." Now Snivley really scared to dead, but still he took a little bit of courage to get the drop on the hedgehog. "Towers, I don't know whose side are you on, but if you're serious about taking Shadow clean, then follow me." Snivley led Towers to the radio shed, there the state police officers were trying to communicate to Shadow the hedgehog but none of them could reach him. Shadow still stay radio silence at all times to avoid getting caught. "Commandeer calling Dark, commandeer calling Dark. Talk to me Shadow. Commandeer to Team Dark, Shadow, Rouge, E-123 Omega come in over." Commander Towers tried to call Shadow using the callsign of his team back in the war, hoping that Shadow would answered thus revealing his location to the police.

"They're all gone sir." A replied from Shadow shuddered the entire communication shed, Towers took the opportunity to tried and talk to his hedgehog commando. "Are you alright Shadow?" Towers asked, in replied Shadow gave him a grim news that he had hope that it never come true. "Team Dark is all dead sir. I'm the only one left." Towers tried to ease the pain of Shadow. "Not E123, he made it." Towers said, "E123 is dead too. Got fell into an acid trap and melt. I'm the only one that's left." Towers tried to calm Shadow down and get him out of hiding without violence, saying that h doesn't want Shadow run around and wreck havoc on friendly civiliants, and come with him quietly back to GUN's Special Forces HQ, "There are no friendly civiliants, and there wouldn't be any trouble if it weren't for that cheep shit cop Snivley either. I just wanted something to eat." Shadow sent back a strong defiance to Towers, now Snivley was slightly shaken when his actions to Shadow in the first place has been reveal in front of everyone's eyes. "Look Shadow, let me come in and get you the hell out of there." But Shadow didn't agree to his former commander, "They drew first blood." He throw down the radio and prepare himself for the inevitable advancement of the police on his hideout.


	4. Chapter 4: The mine

Chapter 4: The mine

The national guard troops move quickly once they knew the exact locaiton of Shadow the hedgehog, he was hiding in the old abandoned mine. The troops slowly crept up on the forest around the mine, Shadow knew that they all came here to apprehend him. And so he fight back. He took his M16 assault rifle and fires bursts of automatic fires to suppressed the troops who were coming to him. The blue battle uniform wearring soldiers dive straight to the ground, not risking any chances of getting themselves into Shadow's line of fire. "Shadow! Give it up! You got nowhere to run and we're not here to kill you." The staff seargent shouted out to Shadow, but to the hedgehog, it's a ruse to lure him out to sheriff Snivley. He didn't heed those words but fight on to the last bullet. The squad of national guards were tired with negotiating with Shadow they decided to cave in the whole mine. A squad member uses his rocket launcher and fire a rocket straight into the cave's roof. The explosion brought down the entire mine entrance along with Shadow, for a moment it seems that the incident between Snivley and Shadow has come to an end. But it's only a matter of time to figure out the result of the situation. A few hours later, commander Towers of the GUN Special Warfare along with sheriff Snivley came to the mine to inspect the mess left behind by the weekend warriors of the national guards. Snivley came up to the mine and saw the scene that he hope that he wouldn't want to see and hear what he wouldn't want to hear, the national guards who took responsibility to capture Shadow were posing for photographs.

"You idiots, get out of here! Come on, shoo shoo!" Snivley got so irritated that he scares off the soldiers before they could even take their first photo. "Didn't you get the words ? I told you people to wait up here until i came to see the situation." But the squad leader stated his clear reason to Snivley, "Hey he was shooting at us, Sniv. I wasn't taking any chances." Snivley then demanded them to dig out the body of Shadow the hedgehog, but while then deep inside the mine, the hedgehog light up a torch and navigate his way out of the cavern. The wet, dark, foul stenched cavern was nothing close to a challenge to Shadow, he was put into worse conditions before.

He navigates the mine through a dark cavern flooded and fill with rats scurrying around. Some of them even bite him, only to be shove off of his shoulders. Shadow finally reached a ladder, above the ceiling were glints of sunlights. He immediately took the opportunity presented to him and climb up the ladder back up to the surface. He found the that he had sneaked pass the defensive line of the national guards and found a convoy of national guard's trucks were moving back to their base. He sly down the ridge line and jumped on a truck. Shadow crawls up to the driver's seat of the truck and kick the window in, thus knocking the driver out of the truck. After successfully hijacked an arm truck fully loaded with weapons, Shadow drove it to a shortcut back to the town. Unbeknowningly to him, the truck driver was picked up by the police, a police cruiser chases down Shadow on the highway, but the hedgehog rammed the cops into the wall of the road, then ram them again, causing them to hit a car parked on the road.

Now that he's only a bridge away from the town, the police sets up a road block in a desperate attemp to stop road raging hedgehog. But Shadow didn't stop no matter what, even when the police were shooting his truck, Shadow hit the gas and ran right through the barricades and the police cars. Leaving the cops in the dust, he ran all day back to town.


	5. Chapter 5: Private war

Chapter 5: Private war

10PM in Westopolist, Shadow drove his hijacked army truck to a nearest gas station he can find. He ran over the gas station's plumming equipments, spilling gases around the truck. He dismounted the truck and grab an M60 Light Machine Gun, two boxes of ammunition. Shadow threw a match stick on the fuel, creating an uncontronable flame, the flame spreads to the source of the fuel, thus, igniting the gas station along with the truck and the ammunition stored in the back compartment. The explosions ensured that sheriff Snivley and his deputies at the police station heard and feel the shock of the blast. They ran to the window and shook to see a column of smoke rises up in their town and civilians are panicking and running for shelters. "You two go check it." Snively sent out his two henchmen to the scene along with the fire brigade. Commander Towers hasn't left the town all day and now he came into Snively's office with some words of advice that Snively will surely never listen to. Snively picked up the microphone to the town's speaker system, he annonunced the first ever emergency situation to the people of Westopolist. "Attention all civilians, attention all civilians. This is an emergency broadcast. For your own safety please evacuate the streets, remain in doors and await for futher instructions from the police." Snively then picked up his M16 rifle, loaded it with a magazine, prepared himself for a payback with Shadow.

"They found Shadow's body. Infact it stole an army truck and blew up a gas station." Snively said to Towers, much to Tower's awareness about Shadow's survival on the mountain, he suspected that the hedgehog might have escaped through the mine. But Snively hoped, and self assured that Shadow won't get out of Snively's hometurf. "Snively, you and all of your men couldn't handle him before what makes you think you can handle him now ?" Towers asked a sarcastic question to Snively, who gave the experienced soldier the cold shoulder, "He trusted me, i'm the one who's closest to him as a family. That's the edge i need." Towers explained to Snively a logical reason why Snively should have let Shadow go in the first place. "Now you listen here, this is my town and this is my job. I don't care to know what your Shadow the hedgehog can do, you just stay out of my way." Snively send Towers out of his sight and faraway from the police station as he can. Then Snivley went to the roof of the station to have an over watch view of the city. While then on the streets around the station, Shadow was carrying an M60 LMG shooting up stores, cars and electric transformers and generators, cutting off electricity to the district. Shadow decided to hit the one place that will have the biggest bang, the gun shop. Where all the ammo, gun powders and weapons that will surely create a very huge blast once detonated.

He came to the front door of the gun shop and machine gunned it down, he stormed into the shop and threw all the ammo boxes on the ground, he piled up the gunpowders into a mountain of highly explosive compound, what's left of the gun powders, he traced them into a trail to the entrance and shoot the gun powder trail up. Light from the beginning of the trail the explosive finale give Shadow just enough time to ran to safety distance. The explosion was so big that the there was virtually nothing left behind to rebuilt the gunshop. Snivley watched in horror as his favorite gun shop went up in smoke and he still couldn't find Shadow. But while Snively was sticking his head up to see the explosion, Shadow has located his prey. The hedgehog swiftly infiltrated the police station and try to pin point where Snively is standing. Shadow slowly crept up into Snively's office, where right above him, Snively open fires on the hedgehog through the skylight. Shadow dodges into covers and fires the remaining bullets of his M60 on the ceiling where Snively was standing. The 7.62mm bullets were so powerful that it tears up Snively's feet causing the control freak sheriff to fell down real hard. Lying on the floor and bleeding to dead, Snively cried out to Shadow to ease him of his pain. "Come on. Go ahead you crazy hedgehog!" But before Shadow could exact his blow, Towers came between just in time to stop a bloody ending. "Shadow! It's over." He said. Outside the police station, police cruisers and army troop transports surrounded the building, more than 200 men from police and the army prepares to fire on Shadow.

"Come here and look out there, look out! There's more than 200 men out there with a lot of M16, they'll make sure you'll bleed to dead. You have no chance. This mission is over Shadow. It's over!" But Shadow shouted to his commanding officer, "Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off. It wasn't my war, you asked me i didn't asked you. Back there we have a code of honor, you watch my back i watch yours. Back here, back here is nothing! Eversince i got back from the airport, all those hippies assholes dumb trashs on me. Calling me baby killer and all those craps! Who do they think they are to protest me ? Back there i drive a tank, i can fly a jet, a helicopter. I can choose a milion dollar equipment, but here there's no fucking jobs to keep me around!" He threw down his M60 LMG into a corner, he collapsed down to the ground and started to weep, he mourns and confess the pain the scared him for life. "I had a girl, blond hair, 12 years old. Her name w...w...was Maria Robotnik, she used to be the girl who cares about me the most. She loves me and tender me. She was the love of my life, then you GUN shows up on the Ark and killed her, you scarred me for life. Then you use me to fight her cousin, Eggman, after that you discarded like a tool." Towers sat down, offers Shadow a shoulder to cry on, and so he wept all he want.

The next morning the police finally got Shadow handcuffed and Snively into the hospital. The press, as usual, were taking every possible picture they can of Shadow as the hedgehog was being escorted to imprisonment. In Shadow's heart and mind, he knew that at least in prison, he wouldn't have to stray anywhere around the world looking for shelters or foods. In jail, he still knows where he's standing.

(Playing Dan Hill's It's a long road)

Cast

Shadow the hedgehog-Sylvester Stallone

Snively-Charlie Adler

Commander Towers-Richard Crenna

Directed by Jim Abrahams

After this story, i will write a sequel to it called "First Blood part deux", starting tomorrow, coming to a computer near you!


End file.
